


Encoded

by Tallulah_Rasa



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Friendship, Future Fic, Gen, Second Chances, The program goes public
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-29
Updated: 2014-06-29
Packaged: 2018-02-06 18:34:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1868067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tallulah_Rasa/pseuds/Tallulah_Rasa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A possible future, veering off from Season 7. No deaths, one five-year gap, two broken hands, three people who haven't spoken in years. Maybe you <i>can</i> go home again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Encoded

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally written and posted in 2004.

**_2004_ **

"I do not understand," Teal'c said.

The coffee Daniel had just swallowed lingered in his mouth, warm and sour. He clutched the cup and listened to his heart pound in his ears.

"I'm sorry," General Hammond said. "I don't know any more than what I just told you. The package was delivered by Federal Express from Las Vegas about twenty minutes ago. As I said, it contained resignation letters from Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter, and a note saying they had eloped. An elopement is--"

"I understand elopement," Teal'c said. "I suspected that something like this might occur. What I do not understand is -- did they not inform you of their intentions?"

Daniel put his cup down on the General's desk and walked out of the office, down the corridor, and onto the elevator. He got off, walked down another corridor, signed out, found his car, got in, and started driving. Three hours later, he called General Hammond, and then he started driving again. He didn't stop for three months. Eventually he found himself in North Carolina. He got out of the car, found a job, got a life. He checked in with Cassie and Teal'c regularly, and he often consulted for the SGC, but he avoided all other artifacts of his old life. He still had the heart of an archeologist; the only past he refused to explore was his own.

**_2009_ **

The Stargate program finally went public in March. The Air Force thought it would be more manageable in stages, so though their names were on the first press releases, SG-1 didn't have to face reporters until the middle of June. Daniel had had weeks of briefings on everything from what to say to what to wear. As he made his way through the labyrinth of halls in Colorado Springs' new SGCMediaCenter, he felt about as prepared as he had the first time he stepped through the Stargate.

He followed the gray sheet of printed directions, looking for the right room. When the PR people milling in the halls saw his name on the security badge they stared and stammered; everywhere he went he parted crowds. He felt a little like Moses, and was grateful the Air Force had agreed to hold back any mention of his ascension. He'd been warned that going public might complicate his life, which was like saying getting hit by a staff blast might be a little painful. But on the bright side, he'd been able to publish a lot of papers, and hold some highly enjoyable -- even gratifying -- symposiums for the archeology and linguistics communities. Also, the Air Force had agreed to gloss over the details of the first Abydos mission, so Sha're was still his own private heartbreak. For the rest of it -- feeling separated from people was nothing new. You got used to it; no big deal.

The press conference was humans-only. The military was being cautious, so Teal'c and Cassie were still under wraps. Daniel thought about calling Cassie, and about maybe heading over to the Mountain later to see Teal'c, and about the bookstores he could visit after the conference. That kept him from thinking about the conference itself, and who he'd be seeing there.

He turned a corner and ran into Sam, a splash of blue and colored ribbons in a sea of gray. They stared at each other for a minute.

"Do I get a hello?" Sam asked.

"Hello," Daniel said, when he remembered how to work his mouth. It was like his second trip through the Stargate: even though he'd known what to expect, he was still shocked as hell.

Sam looked down, and he followed her eyes to the cast on his right hand. "What happened?" Sam asked.

"I, uh, hit a wall," Daniel said.

"Ah," Sam said.

"The night three of my foster families talked to _Inside Edition_."

"Ah," Sam said again, nodding. "Jack broke his hand, too. He clocked a reporter from _The Enquirer_."

"Sam--"

"The guy was camped out on Sara's lawn. Every time she opened the door he would yell out questions about Charlie."

"Oh. Well, good for Jack," Daniel said.

"I thought so," Sam said. "Look, Daniel, I--"

"I still don't want to talk about it," Daniel said.

"Daniel," Sam said. "It wasn't about you."

"Oh, it was entirely clear that I wasn't a part of things," Daniel said.

"That's not what I mean. That's not-- you shouldn't have left the SGC. You didn't have to do that."

"Didn't I?" He clenched and unclenched his left hand; the damn cast was in his way on the right. "I lost my team, Sam."

"You can't make me feel guilty now, Daniel. I--"

"You made your decision, Sam. You don't get to make mine, too. Excuse me, will you? I'm supposed to be somewhere."

He was proud his voice was so steady. But then, losing people was nothing new. You got used to it; no big deal. He dodged some hurrying blurs in blue uniforms, consulted his directions, and made his way down a few gray corridors to a hospitality room with an equally gray couch. He sank down onto a stiff cushion, thankful the room was empty, and listened to his heart pound in his ears. His mouth tasted of coffee. _Well,_ he thought, and then the door opened and Jack was there. Daniel watched as the options flickered across Jack's face: shoot, retreat, call for back-up. Finally Jack sauntered in and found a place at the other end of the couch.

"What's with the hair?" Jack asked. "No, don't tell me. You were always kind of a hippie."

"It's called a ponytail," Daniel said. "And you were always kind of a jerk."

"Yup," Jack said, nodding. "Nice cast. I see you went with the classic white. I'm guessing you hit a wall?"

"Yeah," Daniel said automatically. _It's no big deal_. He glanced at Jack's right hand, wrapped in its own cocoon of plaster. "Sam told me you got yours decking a reporter."

"Did she?" Jack asked. "Well. How is she?"

"How _is_ she? Shouldn't you know? She's your wife."

"Was."

"What?"

" _Was_ my wife. For four months."

" _Four months_?"

"Yeah. You didn't hear? It was quite an explosion."

"Huh."

Jack sat forward and aimed a look like a laser at Daniel. " _Huh_? That's it? No, _How come?_ or _All that for four lousy months_ , or _I don't blame her_?  Just, _huh_?"

Daniel shrugged.

"Well," Jack said, sinking back onto the couch. "You with nothing to say. _That's_ a change."

"Lots of things have changed," Daniel said. "Life is about change." He stood up. "I have to go," he said.

"Need your coffee fix before the main event?"

Daniel stopped at the doorway, but he didn't look back. "I stopped drinking coffee five years ago," he said quietly.

"Funny," Jack said. "So did Sam."

***

The introductions were made, and they were led out onto the podium. Daniel was seated between Jack and Sam, and he wondered briefly if he was supposed to be the demilitarized zone between two warring nations. He wished Teal'c were there, a solid presence watching his back. He wished they could talk about the whole team, the way it was. But the world was having enough trouble with the idea of the Stargate; people weren't ready for "Oh, and by the way, some aliens live next door." So what if Daniel felt a little alone? He wasn't technically stranded. And being alone -- again -- was nothing new. You got used to it; no big deal.

Jack read a statement and a list of names that began, _Janet Fraiser, Charles Kawalsky, Robert Rothman_. Paul Davis, now a Colonel, acted as moderator. He laid down the ground rules -- no questions about ongoing military operations, no "highly personal" questions -- and then began selecting reporters and directing questions. Sam talked about physics and Gate travel and being a woman on the front lines. Daniel talked about language, culture, and Nick, and said three different times that he didn't want to talk about his childhood. Jack, true to form, didn't talk much about anything, referring most of his questions to Daniel or Sam. Daniel didn't look at Sam or Jack, and they didn't look at him, or at each other.

After a while Colonel Davis called on a woman from NPR, who asked, "What was your most important mission?"

"The first one," Jack said quietly. "Not for Earth, maybe, but for me. For what I found. No, I can't elaborate."

"Um...for the world?" Daniel said. "The most important missions were the ones where we...well...kept it from being destroyed." He felt himself blushing.

"And for you personally?" the reporter pressed, smiling. She was way too pretty to be working in radio, Daniel thought.

"I don't know yet," he said. "I mean, it's a matter of perspective, right? Until you know how your life turns out, you don't know what the turning points were. It's sort of like -- if you're on an unfamiliar road, it's hard to tell how far you are from home."

"For me?" Sam asked after Daniel stopped talking. "Well, there were a few. But the one to Kelowna was...that's when the stakes changed, I think. Or maybe I did. It set some things in motion in my life. Emotional things, not logical things. It's...that's just for me, I guess. For the world, yeah, keeping it safe was the point of every mission."

"Another one for all three of you," a guy from ABC-TV called out. "What was the worst thing you had to deal with?"

"Loss," Sam said, and Jack nodded.

"Not being able to change things," Daniel said. "Not being able to help, or even to understand, sometimes. Maybe that's the same thing they said."

"What are you proudest of?" a woman from _The Cleveland Plain Dealer_ asked.

"My team," Jack said.

"I can't think of anything," Daniel said.

"The SGC," Sam said, "and the work we did."

"Do you have any regrets?" That was the guy from _Paris Match_.

"Yes," Jack and Daniel said at the same time.

"I think it's better not to dwell on that," Sam said.

"Last question," Col. Davis finally announced. "The gentleman from the _London Sunday_ _Times_."

"All of you, then -- what would you like people to know?"

"That people from other worlds are just people, like us," Daniel said. "That we really are part of something huge and wonderful. That there are amazing things out there, doors to be unlocked, friendships to be made, so much knowledge -- I think we, everyone on Earth, have been given a great gift. In the right hands, this knowledge could mean so much..."

"That we tried our best," Sam said. "Every day. We tried."

Jack sat quietly, looking as if he were listening to something else entirely. Daniel wondered if he had a radio hidden in his pocket, tuned to a hockey game.

"Colonel O'Neill?"

"That we've seen unimaginable things," Jack finally said, "in unimaginable circumstances; all sorts of civilizations and power and beings and . . .and all sorts of things. And after all that, I still think -- no, I know -- that some of the finest people in the universe were right there at CheyenneMountain." He turned in his seat and looked at Sam and Daniel for the first time. "A couple of them are right at this table."

"I'll second that," Sam said.

***

After it was all over, Daniel managed a few clumsy left-handed handshakes and called Cassie. Then he went looking for Sam. He found her signing autographs for the children of some of the reporters. She started a little when she saw him. He waited until the room cleared out, and then he cornered her.

"I thought I couldn't make you feel guilty," he said.

"You can't," she said, shaking her head.

"You stopped drinking coffee."

She looked at him, looked down, looked up, but said nothing.

"Samantha Carter O'Neill," he said. "Talk to me."

"Samantha _Carter_ ," she said. "And I've been trying to. But before -- you can't make me feel guilty, because I _already_ feel guilty. Oh, Daniel, I was...I was so tired of being alone, and of losing people, and I really needed to feel safe. To belong somewhere that felt permanent. And there was this one moment, and I made a decision, the way you did when you stayed on Abydos. Except I was wrong. And then...I was sorry, but I couldn't go back. All I could do was go on from there."

There was a moment of pure silence, and then Daniel turned all the way around, slowly. "Oh, hi, Sam," he said, when he was facing her again. "I didn't see you there."

She stared for a minute, and then, like dawn breaking, a grin lit up her face.

"I heard...well...I'm, uh, sorry," Daniel said.

"Daniel, for -- what for?"

"Four months," he said. "That must have been..."

"Netu," she said. "And it's funny, because I swear the sign on the road said Hell was in the other direction."

"You want to grab a cup of coffee?" Daniel asked.

"I could do that," Sam said.

*** 

They sat in the MediaCenter commissary with a pot of coffee and a plate of doughnuts between them. By silent agreement, they picked up their cups and took their first sips at the same time.

"Damn," Sam said. Her voice echoed a little. It was long after lunch and too early for dinner; the big room was nearly empty.

"Yeah," Daniel. "This is _awful_. I used to like this stuff?"

"I hope so," Sam said. "I hate to think I gave it up for nothing. And the movies made it seem like we lived on it."

Daniel frowned. "There was more than one? I know somebody threw one together and got it on TV last week. Cassie told me a little about it. She thought they did a decent job with Janet."

"The guy playing you was a hunk," Sam said. "A genius hunk."

Daniel felt his ears get hot. "Uh, Cassie told me that, too."

"My sister-in-law agreed. She said I picked the wrong one."

Someone behind the serving line dropped a platter. The sound almost covered Daniel choking on his coffee. "Excuse me?"

"There were two other movies in the works," Sam went on. "The Air Force sued to stop both of them."

"Oh. Why?"

"One said Jack and I were always..." She gestured vaguely with one hand.

"In love?"

" _Doing it like crazed monkeys_ , is how Jack put it, in the complaint I saw," Sam said. "And of course we weren't. We had to file papers, because on top of being untrue, that kind of accusation can lead to a court-martial. As in, enjoy your stay at Leavenworth." She gave him a half-smile. "Also, love and need aren't the same thing. But you already knew all that."

"Uhh," Daniel said, hoping that Sam wouldn't ask him what he meant.

"The other movie...it implied that you and Jack..."

"Jack and I what?"

"Were, uh..."

Daniel looked at her, eyebrows arching. "What?"

" _Daniel!_ "

"Were constantly arguing? Were never really friends? Were always one step away from throttling each other?"

"Were..." Sam began, wincing apologetically.

"Doing it like crazed weasels," Jack said, coming up behind Daniel and taking an empty chair. "It was a cable thing." He nodded in Sam's direction. "Sam."

"Jack."

"Weird," Daniel said. "Very weird."

"You and me?" Jack said. "Ye-ah. The Air Force brass almost had a stroke."

"What? Oh, yeah. No, actually, I meant hearing you two call each other 'Jack' and 'Sam'."

"It's a big improvement over 'moron' and 'bitch'," Sam said.

"Weird," Daniel said again.

Sam frowned. "That we called each oth--"

"It's weird that this isn't weird," Daniel said. "Being here together, after all this time, after everything that's happened. I mean, it is, a little, but mostly -- it's just familiar. Here we are, having an odd conversation in an odd situation. There's tension. There's a little conflict. All we need are a couple of staff blasts, some MREs, and Teal'c, and it would be just like the good old days."

"That's your idea of the good old days?" Jack said, but clear behind it was, _"Well, duh."_

Sam handed Daniel her cell phone. "Leave out the staff blasts and trade the MREs for Thai, and you've got a deal."

Daniel took the phone with his good hand. He looked down at it, and then he looked up at Sam.

"Call Teal'c," Jack translated. "He's at the Mountain, right? Tell him to meet us for dinner."

Daniel looked at the phone again, and then put it on the table. "I think I..." He stopped, scratched at his cast, pushed his thick white institutional coffee cup a little to the right. The kitchen was cooking something that smelled sharp and smoky. _Onion soup_ , Daniel thought. " _Amazon Women in the Avocado Jungle of_ _Death_ ," he said suddenly.

"What?" Sam asked, but Daniel was looking at Jack.

Jack sat back in his chair. "A couple of days before...before you and I left," he said, talking to Sam but keeping his eyes on Daniel. "After our last mission, the last mission we all went on. After the debriefing, Daniel came over and we watched a movie. That was it."

"There's a movie called " _Amazon Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death?_ " Sam asked.

"You never said a word," Daniel said. "You never said a thing."

"I didn't know then," Jack said.

The smell of slightly burnt onions wafted across the room, almost visible in its intensity. "I don't believe you," Daniel said.

"I know," Jack said. "But it's the truth."

"It could have been _Casablanca_ , or even a hockey game," Daniel said. "But no, I was left with _Amazon Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death_."

"The night before we went to Kelowna," Jack said, "I tried to get you to come over. For a movie, a pizza, something. But it was too soon after...you were still, you know...the thing with Reese. So I didn't even have a movie."

"That's not the same thing," Daniel said. His eyes were starting to water. _Damned_ _onions,_ he thought.

"You and I had breakfast, right before we left for Kelowna," Sam said to Daniel. She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, but it fell forward again. "You ate my last piece of bacon, and I was pissed at you. You were telling me about some book you'd read, and I cut you off and said we had to get going. You said you'd tell me about it later." She reached out and touched Daniel's arm. "So that's what I had. A conversation cut off in the middle. And I know, it's not the same thing. But you know what? It really is."

"I missed you both," Daniel said quietly after a minute. He stared at the tablecloth, absently tracing patterns with his left hand. He realized he was drawing chevrons, abruptly stopped, and looked up. "But what I missed was who you used to be. Who we all were when we were together. I don't know the people we are now."

"It doesn't have to be this difficult, Daniel," Jack said with a sigh.

"Maybe not for you," Daniel said. "But I'm not you. Maybe I want it to be difficult."

"I think we've already established that life isn't about getting what we want," Sam said, flicking irritably at her uncooperative hair.

Jack leaned forward, intent. "No," he said. "It's about change. I heard that from a smart guy. An old friend."

Daniel gave a rueful laugh. "Yeah, but don't they say the more things change, the more they stay the same? That doesn't seem like such a good thing, right now."

"And right now, that doesn't matter," Jack said. "That's what today was about. Don't you both get that? In the end, for better or worse, all that matters is that we went through what we went through together. We lived it. Us. The three of us and Teal'c. No one else can understand it. No one else will ever understand it. That's the thing that's going to bind us together for all time. That's the thing that nothing can change."

Daniel and Sam stared at him.

"What, I can't be eloquent? For crying out loud, it's not like I didn't have time to think about this."

Sam made a face. "That's not how I pictured you spending the past few years."

Jack shot her a tight smile. "Hey, it's what I do. I plan campaigns and look for opportunities." He gestured to the phone. "You look for solutions with technical do-hickeys. And Daniel talks a lot."

"Thanks, Jack," Daniel said. Other smells were floating from the kitchen now, ones he couldn't identify. Sometimes the most familiar things were the ones you couldn't figure out at all. "You know, _you_ could call Teal'c."

Jack shook his head. "No. You're the first contact person. You're the one who figures out the right words. You're the one who dials us home." He nudged the phone in Daniel's direction with his good hand.

Daniel left it on the table. He tried to cross his arms, but his cast got in his way. "I don't think I'm that guy anymore."

Jack started to say something, but stopped. He turned to Sam and said, "Do something, Carter."

Sam got up, walked around the table, and stood by Daniel. He didn't look up. Slowly, she turned all the way around, and when she was facing him again she laid a hand on his shoulder. "Oh, hi, Daniel," she said. "I didn't see you there."

"Something useful, I meant," Jack said. "That's just _lame_."

Daniel lifted his head, and after a moment he cracked an embryonic smile. "Hey, Sam."

"Oh," Jack said. "Never mind. Carry on."

"Let's all get Teal'c and go . . .oh, I don't know. Bowling," Sam said. "We've never been bowling together. What do you say?"

Daniel looked at his cast, and then at Jack's cast, and then at Jack, and then at Sam. " _Bowling?_ "

"It's a common social ritual in this part of the galaxy," Sam said.

"Huh," Daniel said.

"It's something friends do together," Jack said.

"Or people who are getting to know each other," Sam said quickly. "Or," she added in a stage whisper, "people who are looking for an opportunity to smack other people in the head with a large, heavy object."

"I don't know," Daniel said.

"It's something new to explore," Sam said. "New could be good."

Daniel frowned. "I'm an archeologist, Sam. I'm better with old things. With the past."

"We've been to Netu already," Sam said softly. "It's not so great."

"That needs saying?" Jack said.

Daniel examined his cast. It was going to come off soon. Life was about change. "I'm not sure this is a good idea," he said. _No big deal, my ass,_ he thought.

"Oh, for crying -- Daniel, there's a difference between somebody doing something stupid and somebody doing something with bad intentions," Jack said.

Daniel looked at him.

"Okay, I know," Jack said slumping back. "Only if you're the one holding the zat. I know. I'm not good at this, you both know that. It's just . . .we've all lost too damn much. We need to fix this."

Sam smiled a little. "Hey, there _is_ something we agree on."

Jack gave her a long look and nodded. "This is all your fault, you know," he said to Daniel. "Before I knew you, I didn't believe in second chances. You're the one who told me I shouldn't be in such a hurry to give up."

"I also told you hockey was a stupid game," Daniel said.

"So you were wrong one time in your life," Jack said. "Big deal." He didn't wait for an answer, forging ahead as though he were on point. "Look, I'm going to take this phone, and I'm going to call Teal'c, and we're all . . ." His voice trailed off as he fumbled with the phone. "Damn, I hate this cast! Help me out here, would you, Sam?"

She reached out for the phone, managing another smile. "Well, okay. Seeing as how it's for the good of the team." She turned to Daniel. "I think maybe this is meaning of life stuff. Give it a try, okay?"

Daniel stood up. There was no pre-printed set of directions for what came next, no research to back up his assumptions. He felt wildly unprepared, a little sick to his stomach, and the tiniest bit hopeful. Like that first trip to Abydos, he was on new ground, with no idea how to get home. Maybe that's what life was like, even without a Stargate.

"I need another cup of coffee," he said.

Jack snickered. Sam started dialing. Across the room a noisy throng burst through the commissary door. A cart of dishes rattled in the kitchen. The ice machine on the far wall churned into life.

Over it all, Daniel heard something else, something he thought might be the sound of a chevron falling into place.

END

 


End file.
